roger phlegm

November 14, 2013 1:56 pm

Perhaps the problem is that the repeated "drugs are bad, huh? drugs kill" warnings don't reflect the experience of most drinkers and drug users and thus undermines the credibility of all messages on the drugs subject.

Statistically, almost all children will drink underage and most will take illegal drugs, so the idea that somehow anybody is to blame for not "getting the message across" is absurd: the truth is, the message is palpable nonsense and even kids can see through it.

Si

November 17, 2013 4:15 am

It's likely we'll never know just how many people alcohol does kill. Alcohol is implicated in a lot of different types of cancer.

And with alcohol the message isn't "palpable nonsense". Alcohol affects the brains of children differently to those of adults, this is because of the obvious fact that children's brains are still at an important stage of development.

johnl

November 13, 2013 5:43 pm

I blame the parents,no doubt their parents spend most of their time down the pub.There are so many dysfunctional families these days and that's why kids hit the bottle or take drugs.Get the parents in court.

puffin

November 14, 2013 1:43 pm

I do wonder if this is the beginning of what will become the norm due to people breeding for benefits? Too many times in the last few years I've seen drunk mothers being walked home by their small children.

Some of these kids will think it's totally normal to get up and watch Trisha, start drinking and drop an E before trotting over to Iceland in their pj's to get a £1 curry and sleeping it off until the next day.

evelyn

MsMetaledge

November 13, 2013 5:56 pm

Very sad :( Those poor children...children as young as 10??? Where are the parents and why are they not held accountable? How bad does a poor little life have to be that they have to turn to drink/drugs...

paul

BeanAbout

November 13, 2013 7:50 pm

Young people will always put their lives at risk, it is called being young & possibly a little stupid! The amount of people reading this article and turning to others and saying "When I was young, I once...." We all lived !

evelyn

St Johnnie

November 14, 2013 9:02 am

You are of course correct, we have all done stupid things when we were younger but drink and drugs at 10, really? This is not some juvenile rites of passage, this is a potential social catastrophe if left unchecked.

truthseeker

November 14, 2013 1:42 pm

A period of growth sponsored by way too much credit,and we have a generation of immature kids who then have kids,they have an entitlement mentality,state sponsored by free deposits,job not seekers allowance,income support...and the media constantly bigging up talentless morons,,who just for turning up and being ridiculous,have made fortunes...if your parents are not at the helm,your boat wallows around directionless,kids seek boundaries,and if there are none...go feral...what else can the poor little buggers do.when a proper parent supplies discipline in daily living the child has something to rail against and knows where the boundaries are,,and where he begins and ends,if the so called grownups.smoke dope,ponce off the state,sell drugs and get pi**ed all the time...where is the childs compass..this child then becomes a problem for the state thousands are spent jailing hospitaisisng,and managing this person,they then breed and we have massive social decay...then ghettos....we see non accountability,theft fiddling expenses,banks ripping us off the pillars of society that were, are now seen as corrupt,we have burned our own Totems,broken our own rules,sacrificed integrity for materialism....and we wonder why it's all going tits up...leadership begins at the top and rolls down hill ..so does the brown stuff...what do you want..another generation of dysfunctional addicts...?

The Thinker

November 15, 2013 8:39 am

I'm very curious about the timing of this 'news' story. Yes there is a major issue in the Island and this has been the case for many years, however all the signs are that it is a decreasing problem and that things are moving in the right direction.

I wonder if why the JEP has suddenly decided this issue needs publicity at this time.